Understanding Facebook’s Subscribe Feature

Do you ever feel frustrated by new features popping up on Facebook? Just when it seems like you have it all figured out, they change something and you have to learn something new all over again. While it's frustrating at times, this is the nature of a social media site. You do not have to be confused by Facebook's new subscribe feature that is creating a buzz right now.

There are some real benefits to the new Facebook subscribe feature but to get the most from it, you need to understand how it all works. Here are the basics to get you started.

Opt In

First, you need to opt into the feature. It will not activate automatically for you. When you turn it on, Facebook will ask you if you want to allow certain features- such as people to be able to comment on your public status updates. This will count even if you don't allow comments on your wall and it is separate from wall comments.

Answer Security and Usage Questions

You will also have to answer some questions about whether or not you want notifications about new subscribers and similar info. The answers you choose will be based on how much security and privacy you want on your profile and how important this privacy is to you.

With this new feature, subscribers now have more control over whose feeds they view. With the old system, people did not see a majority of the posts that were made in their news feeds. Now subscribers can choose who they want to see in their feeds with more precision.

Who Benefits?

There is benefit to this feature to public figures and to those who wish to follow them because you can check their updates and hear from them without actually being friends. You can also determine what you want to hear from in your friends' feeds. It's basically just another way for Facebook to give you more control over your account and who you interact with.

For example, you can subscribe to people and see their public posts without having to be friends with them. Or if you want to share certain posts to the public, you can do so with the subscribe feature without having to add everyone who wants to follow you to your friends. It is also a way to get past the 5,000 friend limit that Facebook places on accounts.